1. Field of the Disclosed Embodiments
This disclosure relates to systems and methods for implementing two-level analytics to achieve large scale, scalable and efficient spectrum management for networks using spectrum allocated through a Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) scheme that allows spectrum holders, or a proxy assigned to manage a given allocation of spectrum, to temporarily “rent” access to the spectrum they hold to other entities.
2. Related Art
The last decade and a half has witnessed an explosion in growth in the use of, and requirements for, wireless data communications, particularly by individual users operating, for example, through licensed mobile cellular network operators. This growth continues unabated today as the numbers and types of wireless devices employed by the individual users to access all manner of wireless networks via various communication paths continue to multiply, increasing demand for available spectrum. As the increase in demand for wireless data access continues, the world is headed toward a global spectrum shortage. There is a finite amount of spectrum that can be tapped to support wireless data communication. Availability of wireless spectrum for the increasing numbers and types of mobile devices is key to the continued use of the spectrum to exchange data and for economic growth.
An availability of ever increasingly-capable wireless data communications has also created in individual customers an expectation of a certain quality of service. In short, individual wireless data communication consumers expect quality wireless data communications to be available anytime and anyplace. If solutions are not found, users of wireless devices will frustratingly experience increased instances of dropped calls and slow data speeds all while paying higher fees for access to the scarce resource that will be the wireless data and voice communication spectrum.
Currently, wireless devices are used to provide individuals virtually instantaneous and continuous wireless access to email, social media, applications and streaming video. These wireless devices are estimated to use 25 to 125 times the amount of spectrum that was used by earlier generation cellular telephones. Various industry estimates expect growth in global mobile data traffic to double every 1-2 years for the foreseeable future.
Exclusive mobile spectrum licenses carve out to their licensees portions of the available spectrum that are used for wireless data and voice communication. Licensees in any geographic area include government agencies, which sometimes reserve communication spectrum to certain “required” wireless voice and data communications. A non-exhaustive list of these communications users includes broadcast radio and television communications, satellite communications, public safety and emergency services communications, military communications, and certain other commercial communication requirements to include, for example, communications with aircraft for navigation and air traffic control. Licensees in particular geographic areas also include mobile cellular network operators. A cursory review of the breakdown of the licensed spectrum for any particular geographic area reveals that the availability of new spectrum to support the assignment of additional exclusive licenses to any particular licensee is nearly exhausted.
A detailed review of the challenges faced by mobile cellular network operators starts with an overview of their operations. Mobile cellular network operators license spectrum bands for their exclusive use within a particular geographic region. These entities then contract with individual customers to provide certain levels of service with express or implied guarantees of connectivity, and of communications fidelity at increasing rates of delivery. As mobile cellular network communication traffic continues its dramatic increase, congestion occurs today and the congestion problem is forecast to rise significantly in coming years in the portions of the spectrum currently licensed to mobile cellular network operators to support wireless voice and data communications.
In the face of current and forecast issues regarding network congestion in their licensed spectrums, mobile cellular network operators have taken to purchasing additional exclusive spectrum licenses in the secondary market from other exclusive licensees (spectrum holders) whose licensed spectrum is underused or otherwise available. Buying additional spectrum licenses allows mobile cellular network operators to build or expand their networks and handle more customer traffic. In fact, in late 2011, one major mobile cellular network operator in the United States reached an agreement, subject to regulatory approval, to buy a license for a small swath of wireless communication spectrum (around 20 MHz) from several broadcast cable companies for an amount that was reported to be in excess of three and one half billion dollars.
Efforts are ongoing to optimize wireless data communication to make more effective use of available spectrum. Consider the available spectrum as a pipe with a finite maximum diameter. Ongoing efforts attempt to optimize the flow of data through that pipe, thereby reducing the amount of spectrum used. These efforts include use of compression techniques, video optimization and burst transmissions such that overall data transmission through the pipe is streamlined and optimized, i.e., techniques are implemented to pass larger amounts of data in what appears to be a smaller volume of flow through the pipe. Additional efforts are focused on concepts such as Wi-Fi offload or small cell development to ease the burden on the saturated portions of the spectrum exclusively licensed to mobile cellular network operators. All efforts at making data flow more efficient, thereby improving spectral efficiency, will reap benefits. Regardless of these efforts, however, the pipe will never get any bigger due to the fixed, finite spectrum covered by licenses. The above efforts may delay the inevitable. There will still come a time, however, when the currently-licensed portions of the spectrum that support commercial mobile voice and data communications will become overburdened. When this overburdening occurs, a mobile cellular network operator has at its disposal methods, some of which are used today, by which to maintain service across its exclusively-licensed spectrum for all of its individual customers. Often these methods reduce the quality of service experienced by individual customers. Common techniques include, for example, mobile cellular network operators “throttling” rates at which data may be received by individual customers. Of course, as with any supply and demand scheme, a mobile cellular network operator can exact a premium from some percentage of its individual customers according to currently-licensed spectrum for its use to prioritize which of the individual customers get “throttled” last.